Director General of the BRC, Helen Dickinson, said: ‘We saw welcome signs of growing consumer confidence, with people more willing to “trade-up” and spend a bit more on big-ticket purchases., likely boosted by the growth in the supply of credit and other factors such as low inflation and rising real incomes’.

Online sales also saw a dramatic increase, growing 17.6% on the same month in 2014, with ecommerce making up 18.4% of retail sales in the UK.

Ms Dickinson added: ‘As ever, websites are popular during the sales, providing greater clarity of stock availability for some consumers. For retailers, online is an increasingly useful tool to reach customers selectively and showcase their offer’.